Crypto.com Payments Launch for Dubai’s Official Public Services

Crypto.com Payments to Power Government Services for Cashless Dubai

Dubai has taken a big step to become a crypto-friendly city. The Department of Finance collaborated with Crypto.com to use crypto to make payments for government services. It was announced at the Dubai FinTech Summit on May 12. 

Source: Government of Dubai Media Office

This is a part of the Cashless Strategy, where 90% of all payments in the city aim to be digitized by 2026. In this new framework, users can make payments with stablecoins through the Crypto.com app. The cryptocurrency is also converted to UAE dirhams automatically prior to being received by the government.

This will be easier for individuals and companies to settle such as traffic tickets, electricity bills, or school fees, all in cryptocurrency, safely and instantly.

How Crypto.com Will Help Dubai Go Cashless

The city already has an edge in cashless payments. It made a significant percentage, or around 97%, of its government payments in 2023 digitally. It now adds cryptocurrency payments for the very first time in its official platforms, thanks to the support from Crypto.com.

This is the first such agreement between a global digital assets firm and a government, according to the platform UAE General Manager, Stuart Isted. The initiative is being rolled out on DubaiNow, which allows individuals to pay for more than 50 various government services through a single app.

Amna Lootah, head of digital payments in the city, said this is a big part of the city’s plan to become completely cashless under its Economic Agenda (D33).

UAE Among the Top 10 Cryptocurrency-Friendly Countries

These new steps in cryptocurrency adoption are not going unnoticed. A recent study by Apex Protocol ranked the United Arab Emirates (UAE) 10th in the world for digital currency development. 

Here’s what the Apex study found:

• Blockchain Patents: 340

• Blockchain-related Jobs: 414

• Cryptocurrency Exchanges Based in UAE: 9

• Overall Score: 73.2

These numbers show that the Emirates is not just making cryptocurrency-friendly laws, it’s building a strong base of technology, talent, and companies to support it.

Dubai’s Broader Crypto Expansion: Recent Highlights

Partnership with the Crypto.com is just one part of a much larger movement to make the city a global hub for digital finance. Following are the recent Developments Highlights Fast-Growing Digital Assets Ecosystem.

Token2049 Conference: Dubai recently organized one of the world's biggest international events. It has the attendance of nearly 10,000 industry professionals. One of the significant announcements during the event was the Trump family business WLFI. They announced that a $2 billion deal for a new stablecoin, which is called as USD1, is backed by UAE investment fund and also supported by Binance.

Tokenization of Real Estate: It is also developing the tokenization of real estate property leveraging blockchain. It will improve the real estate businesses, deals would be quicker, safe, and transparent by providing ownership in digital currency.

Dirham-Pegged Stablecoin: Another advance is three institutions of Abu Dhabi, including the national wealth fund, have introduced a new stablecoin pegged to UAE Dirham. Added to the digital currency universe.